HANOI: The number of Vietnamese being recruited to work illegally in Cambodia is believed to be on the rise, with seven people recently being detained for sending around 200 people to Cambodia.
Vietnamese police detained the seven last week for brokering to illegally send the workers across the border for commissions.
According to a Vn Express report, initial police investigations show that the seven came to know a man in Cambodia through social media, who wanted workers for his company.
They were paid VND300,000 (US$12.87) for every person they sent over.
The seven then tricked people online by telling them they would go to the Tay Ninh province for a job with high salaries, but instead sent them over the border to Cambodia.
They are believed to have sent over about 200 people across the border this year.
Detailing the modus operandi of the trafficking gangs, the Vn Express report said brokers often used photos of luxury buildings and company parties taken in Cambodia to lure Vietnamese with high salaries.
One of the victims who has since been rescued by the authorities, Nguyen Van Chien, 19, said he was first approached by another 19 year old about job opportunities in Cambodia.
Chien knew him for seven years, and the latter told him about a desk job with a monthly salary of US$500 to US$1000 in Cambodia, and that all expenses and travel arrangements would be "taken care of" by the employers.
Chien accepted the offer and was sent across the border illegally but later found out that his job was to entice people to play online card games.
He worked in a multi-storey office building, with his floor having about 300 employees, mostly Vietnamese.
He told the police that many of them were brutally beaten and they even used electric batons on them.
There was a punishment room on the second floor for employees trying to flee, refusing to work or arguing with the boss, and he would hear groans of pain every time he went past it to go to the bathroom.
He worked 13 to 15 hours daily and was fined if he failed to meet the target or tried to resist.
Those who wanted to quit had to pay VND120-150 million (US$5,100-6,400), and anyone trying to flee instead or report to the police, faced retaliation.
Chien said one employee died after working for a little more than a month, leading to a police investigation.
On April 29, Chien and a large number of people were able to return to Vietnam.
Another victim, Tran Chi Duy, 19, from Sam Son said was bailed out by relatives after months of working in a casino in Cambodia.
He said a friend from the northern Nam Dinh Province told him about a "cushy job that paid well" in Cambodia, and accepted it before travelling to Cambodia after the Lunar New Year this year.
He ended up in a casino near the border and the casino boss said he had been sold for US$2,700.
After working for three months as a waiter at the casino, Duy was told he had been sold to yet another casino for US$4,600.
At the new place, he was given computers and phones to entice customers to an online gambling site.
"Every day, I had to work 14 to 15 hours while being constantly checked by a security guard holding a gun and threatening me.
He was not paid all those months with the manager saying his salary went toward his living expenses.
Duy and a friend later told the manager they wanted to return to Vietnam but were told to pay VND140 million or they would be sold off to another casino.
He then called home to seek assistance from his family. His family mortgaged their house to raise the money.
Thanh Hoa province police's external security department head Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Thanh Binh said many victims were tricked by people they knew or through social media with appealing offers.
The victims were all healthy young men without a steady job and knew how to use computers.
He said the provincial police found 381 cases of people going to Cambodia to work illegally. Of them, 179 have return.
The victims were all healthy young men without a steady job and knew how to use computers.
He said the provincial police found 381 cases of people going to Cambodia to work illegally. Of them, 179 have returned while the rest are still working illegally in Cambodia, 21 of them at gambling establishments.
The police have so far charged eight people for defrauding and trafficking victims to Cambodia.
The Vn Express report said that Vietnam's Foreign Affairs Ministry recently announced that so far this year, Vietnamese and Cambodian authorities have repatriated 400 Vietnamese citizens who have been tricked and sold in Cambodia by traffickers.